John D. Lyman (1823 - 1902)
Born at Milton (NH); died at Exeter (NH).
New Hampshire Secretary of State, 1867/70.
Portrait by unknown artist.
Presented to the State by a descendent, 1907.
Location: Legislative Office Building, Room 210

John D. Lyman had limited education, but served his state in a variety of roles. "He was the first banking commissioner to learn by test the actual amount of savings-bank deposits, and was the author of the law requiring savings-banks to lay aside a guaranty fund." (Moses, p. 61). He was a member of the Board of Agriculture, and active in various agricultural societies and the Grange. "To him the increasing value of the corn crop is due by reason of the interest awakened by his personal offer of premiums. Many of the laws beneficial and necessary to the farming interests of the state were introduced by him or enacted through his influence." (Ibid.) Lyman served on the Exeter School Board 1886-1900; he lived in Exeter from 1869, when, as Secretary of State, he received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College. He served in the State House of Representatives (1874/5) and in the State Senate; he also served as a trustee for New Hampshire College and the New Hampshire Orphans Home, and he headed the state's Temperance Society for some years.

Reference: George H. Moses, ed., New Hampshire Men (1893); also Nancy Merrill et al., Exeter, New Hampshire, 1888 - 1988 (1988).